“Alpha-Omega Compassion” Incorporating

     Jesus Christ loved people, including us. When we look at one another, we need to put on our “Jesus glasses” and see our brothers and sisters in Christ as He sees them, and we need to listen to them as He listens to them. The Letter to the Romans reminds us to recognize the needs of those in the church fellowship and to consider the needs, especially of the poor. Jesus Himself would remind us to help the weak. Jesus Christ loves India and the Indian people. Pastor Luther Sastry filled me in on some specific needs last year.

     You will remember that Zion Lutheran Church supported my trip to India last January when I joined the AFLC-USA Teaching Team to Chirala in Andhra Pradesh. That Team included Pastor Jerry Peterson (Oklahoma City, OK), which is significant, as you will see below.

     We taught on the campus of St. Paul’s Lutheran Public School. The school campus houses perhaps ten classrooms, no front and no back walls, but side walls separating classrooms and supporting a thatched roof.

     Kitchen facilities are outside. Latrine and sanitation availability is minimal. A chapel/seminary meeting area on campus is also used as a large group meeting area for the 300 or so K-through-8 grade children on the site.

     There is a two-story building, perhaps 20 feet by 25 feet, housing the school office, a computer lab, and the AFLC-India headquarters. A small room on the upper floor has a sleeping area for about a dozen orphans who roll up their bed-rolls during the day so the space can be used for other purposes. Children sleep on the floor. A small Indian-style commode is present on the second floor. A reportedly “safe” drinking fountain is located in a central sandlot playground of the school.

     As a licensed audiologist, I did participate in some health clinics operated off-site--they were usually outdoors. Water, when present was usually in a bucket for cleaning wounds and the like, but the quality of the water was not good. (“Lutheran” Global Health Ministries began helping the local AFLC-India churches drill for quality water supplies, a definite evangelical “health” outreach, in 2007.) You can read about that on our church bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall. Local AFLC-India pastors have been anxious to develop Western-style medicine clinics for their people and for evangelism purposes. Until the fall of 2007, AFLC-India health activities related only to homeopathic medicine. Pastors and people are now receiving Western medicine through the work of the AFLC-India.

     I sat down with Pastor Luther Sastry, a seminary colleague from my days in our AFLC-USA Seminary, and I asked him what he felt the greatest need for the AFLC-India is. Answer: an “English” School. Pastor Luther developed what is now called “St. Paul’s Lutheran Public School.” Initial community support was good for the school. The people of the community assumed that this St. Paul’s School was going to become a community asset. Unfortunately when the physical plant failed to be developed after the first couple years of operation, the families with funds to send their children to this English school, elected to send their children elsewhere. The result was that the AFLC-India had lots of poor children to educate with little income coming in. On top of that, the AFLC-India began operating an orphanage that was loosely coupled with the school.

     Why the interest in an “English” school? Is it really evangelism? Access to English education is a growth plan for the AFLC-India. Pastor Sastry notes:

     “It is so important that our congregations were established among downtrodden communities. Downtrodden children have been neglected. They do not have good education programs. There are many public schools but no standard education in them. The downtrodden children go to these schools, but they cannot compete with the higher caste children. Years pass and the downtrodden children become laborers in fields whereas the higher caste children become job holders in many companies. These children will become our church members, but they will not be in a position to maintain the church because of their poverty. So the AFLC-INDIA has concentrated on these downtrodden children. If they can get a good education, they can stand and compete with other students for jobs. Then these will become strong supporters of our church in future.”

     The AFLC-India continues to operate the school without overt help from outside the country. People primarily from the AFLC-Canada have subsidized about a 100 children this past year (more this year) while the AFLC-USA has supported 20. About 300 children are enrolled in the school today, with many receiving some support. There is the small orphanage. And there is the small chapel/meeting space for educating pastors. (This 15-foot-by-30-foot chapel has a concrete floor and partial concrete walls. Students sit on the floor.) The AFLC-India is bringing in some Western medicine practitioners, trained at a level somewhere below a nurse-practitioner, but there is no real clinic. (Global Health Ministries began shipping medical equipment to India recently, but there is no clinic site able to receive some of the common medical tools available.)

     When I spoke with my seminary friend Pastor Luther Sastry, he talked in practical terms. The AFLC-India is concerned not only with St. Paul’s Lutheran Public School, but also with people receiving access to Western medicine. The church and its people have been asking for development of such medicine. They believe that a school building with a medical clinic component, would serve the AFLC-India as an additional evangelism tool. As we dialogued, it became apparent that a pastor-teaching and AFLC-India administration component to a building would be useful as well.

     Blue prints of a fully functional and utilitarian St. Paul’s Lutheran Public School have been developed by an Indian architect. After our discussion, Pastor Luther contacted his local architect to determine where additional space might be developed for a multi-purpose building, comprising the existing English school and orphanage along with space for a Western medicine clinic and AFLC-India administration space. The result of that discussion is the building we advocate.

     As noted, the existing school has major physical plant problems. An adequate school building of three floors would meet educational needs and allow development of things like a septic system, science lab, computer lab, meeting spaces, etc. The central component of the building would house the school. Two wings on the building would focus on health care needs and seminary-training space. The orphanage component would take the top floor of the building. The main floor of the building would house a formal clinic space, perhaps occupying a wing or more if bed-space were needed for medical purposes. This central clinic in Chirala would be a referral clinic from the satellite clinics operated by the churches in the hinterlands of Chirala.

     One year ago, the costs for this building looked like this: The proposed multi-purpose building has three floors, essentially dedicated to education, health care, pastor continuing education, and administration. We estimated the cost at about $85,000 at that time with an additional $30,000 needed to outfit the building for educational, orphan, medical, and administrative purposes. Total needed in the Spring of 2007: $115,000.

     Here’s what has happened in the past year. Our dollar has lost close to 25% of its value. What you could buy a year ago abroad, now will cost you about $1.25. Building materials have gone up, independently of the dollars loss of value. A sack of concrete cost about $2.25 in India a year ago. The same sack of concreted now costs about $6.25. So, the dollar has a loss and the construction materials are about 275% of what they were a year ago. The bottom line, last year’s building now costs about $200,000 or so.

     Many in the AFLC-USA feel the Indian church needs this multipurpose building. The AFLC-USA World Missions Committee has resources committed to other projects at this point. So, Pastor Jerry Peterson, others, and I have initiated a foundation to pursue the building of this facility, or at least to help with it. We are losing ground as we wait, as you can see. In the third week of February we began the incorporation process of “Alpha-Omega Compassion” to facilitate fund-raising and the building of this facility.

     Our Heavenly Father does not call on us to do what we cannot do, but He calls on us to help His children and help those in need. I will update you as Alpha-Omega Compassion comes into being. At this time, would you begin praying for this organization and for the funding needs of a new St. Paul’s Lutheran Public School in Chirala along with orphanage, medical, and administration facility needs for the AFLC-India?

The congregation and friends
of Zion Lutheran Church are invited
Sunday, March 30, 2008
for a time of fun and fellowship!
Meet after worship for
a wonderful meal plus a program for all.

Singing,
play “Name That Hymn”,
a Devotional,
Music,
Bible Trivia game,
and more fun for everyone!

Cost: $6.00 per couple/family or $4.00 for an individual
If you prefer, instead of a charge, you may bring a salad
or dessert to complete our
meal of lasagna and french bread.

Invite friends and neighbors to join us! See you there!

     Pastor Dave tells us that we last did this in 2003.  You may remember.  We asked our members how we should use our new Fellowship Hall and how we should do ministry.  "It is time to pick our brains again and see what the Lord has laid on the hearts of His people," Pastor Dave says.  Get ready for a visit and think about things Pastor Dave can bring to the Church Council for new programs or adjustments to old programs.  Pray that the Lord would give you His ideas.  Think of ways we can build up Jesus Christ and His church.